Swimming in Chaos
by OwlGirl517
Summary: Annabeth Chase has been a single mother for three years ever since her fiance, Luke Castellan, went missing in action. She doesn't want help from anyone so most of the time it's just her and her son, James. Since James is getting older, Annabeth decided to take him to have swimming lessons where she meets Percy. He's the first guy in three years to pull on her heartstrings.
1. First Swimming Lesson

Annabeth was nervous. First swim lesson for James at three years old. Of course she wasn't expecting James to be an Olympic swimmer but he had to know basic swim safety and it was good mommy and James time.

"Mommy! Lets go swimming!" James squealed as he ran to her in his swim trunks.

"Okay, okay. We'll leave in a minute." She smiled as she grabbed towels.

Being a single mom was hard for her. She worked eight hours a day at her job and always came home tired. But she pushed through it and made dinner for her and her son. And she had to pay off her rent, bills, and the daycare she sent James to during the day.

"Ready to go swimming?" She asked once she was ready.

He nodded excitedly. "Yes!"

She took his hand and they left the apartment.

James was jumping over the cracks in the sidewalk as they walked to the YMCA where his private lesson would be held.

They went into the locker room and Annabeth helped him take off his shirt and shoes.  
She also took off her shirt and pants, since she had to be in the water with him for extra supervision.

"Come on mommy!" James was getting anxious.

Annabeth clicked the lock shut on the locker. "Okay, lets go."

She took his hand with her free hand as they walked into the pool area. It was hot and humid in there. And since it was eight in the morning, no one was there besides the instructor who was looking for something in the supply closet.

James let go of Annabeth's hand and headed to the water.

"James, no!" She went over and scooped him up. "You can't go in the water yet."

He pouted.

Annabeth looked up and saw the instructor come over with a kick board, noodle, and some rings.

Looking at him, she instantly knew that he was a swimmer. His figure showed that. He had black hair and green eyes which reminded her of the ocean.

"You must be Mrs. Chase." He greeted. "I'm Percy, James' swim instructor."

"Actually, it's Miss Chase." She corrected.

"Oh, I'm sorry." He told her. His eyes went to James. "Hey buddy, ready to learn how to swim?"

James nodded eagerly.

"But first I need to tell you three very important things." Percy told him. "Are you ready to hear them?"

James nodded again.

"First," He held up on finger. "You never go into a pool without mommy or a life guard in the pool. Second," He held up another finger. "Always listen to the life guard while in the pool. Third," He held up a third finger. "Never run around the pool. Now, can you repeat what I just said?"

"No running. Listen to lifeguard. No going into the pool without mommy or a lifeguard." James recited back.

"Very good." He held out his hand for a high five and James returned it. "Let's get into the pool."

They walked into the pool by the steps.

Annabeth was smiling as Percy taught James basic pool safety; how to float, how to hold his breath under water, and they started kicking with a kick board and noodle.

Before they knew it, their hour was up.

"Good job today buddy." Percy gave him a high five.

James grinned as he held onto the side of the pool.

Percy looked at Annabeth. "He's better than some of the older kids I teach. He listens and pays attention. I'm really impressed. And I've never met a mom who is wiling to get into the pool with their child. Usually they just put their feet in the water."

"Well, I'm very hands on. Or well, trying to be hands off since you're the instructor." She turned a bit pink.

He chuckled. "I understand. But I do appreciate you trying."

"Thank you."

"Mommy, Percy, can I jump in?" James asked. "Please?"

Percy looked at him, who was still hanging onto the edge. "Sure bud. Two jumps and then it's time to go."

Annabeth lifted him out of the pool and placed him by the edge.

"You're going to jump to me." Percy told him. "Big jumps."

James grinned and jumped off the edge and into Percy's arms. "Again!"

Percy chuckled. "Okay. Last one and then it's time to go." He brought James to the edge.

James patiently waited for Percy to get into position before jumping into his arms again.

"What do you say to Percy?" Annabeth asked him.

"Thank you!" He giggled.

"You're welcome. I'll see you next week, alright?" Percy smiled.

He nodded.

Percy handed James back to Annabeth. "Next week same time?"

"Yeah, we'll be here." She smiled.


	2. Run In

James was always excited to go to his swim lessons. He constantly asked Annabeth when they were going to see Percy again so he could swim.

"Can we go swimming now?" James asked in the locker room. He was practically jumping with anticipation.

Annabeth sighed. They got there fifteen minutes early because James dragged her there. "Okay. Okay." She locked up their stuff.

He walked to the door that lead to the pool deck.

It looked like no one was there. The water seemed still until someone broke the surface to start free style. It took Annabeth a minute to realize it was Percy. His black hair was covered by a green swim cap and his eyes were covered by goggles. The water easily glide over his body as he swam.

She watched as he did a flip turn when he got to the other end of the pool. He broke into the butterfly.

"Wow, look at Percy!" James was amazed at Percy's swimming.

"I know, I see." Annabeth was amazed too.

She was amazed how he timed every stroke and kick to make him go as fast as he could.

He did another flip turn and saw back. Once he was done, he broke surface. Percy was breathing hard as he took off his goggles.

"That was so cool!" James grinned.

He turned and saw them there. "Oh! Sorry! I didn't realize-"

"We're early." Annabeth told him.

Percy took off his swim cap before getting out of the pool.

Annabeth turned a bit pink when she realized he was wearing a speedo.

"I'll be ready in five minutes." Percy said facing them. His speedo was just able to cover everything.

"No rush." Annabeth told him as he went to the office.

James looked at his mom. "Percy was wearing a tiny bathing suit." He giggled.

"I know."

Percy came out five minutes later, wearing red swim trunks that said lifeguard on the bottom left leg. "You ready to swim, bud?"

James nodded. "Can I jump?"

"Sure. Let me get in first." Percy smiled at him.

Annabeth was glad her friend, Piper, could babysit James for a couple of hours as she ran errands. She loved James, but she knew if she brought him to go grocery shopping, she would end up buying half of the cookie aisle.

She was looking down at her list when her cart banged into another.

"I'm so sorry." She heard.

She looked up and saw Percy. "It's okay Percy."

"I wasn't paying attention. I was looking at what I need."

She looked at his cart and saw a lot of junk food, food that a bachelor would buy."

"You need to eat healthier food." She told him.

"I'm a swimmer. I have a fast metabolism." He smiled.

"I don't think donuts and cookies are going to help your swimming."

He chuckled. "They're for late night grading."

"Grading?"

"I'm the biology teacher at the high school. I also coach the varsity swim team." He told her. "I need some comfort food as I

grade."

"Oh wow. You're a busy guy."

"Yeah, also another reason why I don't eat well."

Annabeth sucked in a breath. "You should come over and have a good home cooked meal."

"Oh, no, Annabeth, I really shouldn't."

"When's the last time you had a home cooked meal?" She asked.

Percy thought about it for a while. "Christmas."

"That was four months ago. Percy, come over for dinner tonight." Annabeth told him. "James loves being around you and it would be great to have someone over for dinner so it's not just James and I."

Percy thought for a moment. "Okay."

"We have dinner at six." She told him.


	3. The Dinner

Annabeth was instantly regretting having Percy over for dinner. She was more conscious than usual about what she was making.

But she couldn't go wrong making burgers, salad, and some homemade fries, right? Right?

She looked over at James, who was playing with his toy trains. He was playing with them on the tracks, going through some buildings that Annabeth made for him, out of legos, earlier.

There was a knock at the door and James looked up. He ran over to the door.

"Who is it?" James asked as Annabeth went to look through the peep hole to see who it was.

"It's, uh, Percy."

Annabeth saw him standing on the other side with a container and a brown bag that probably had wine in it.

"Back up James." Annabeth told him. He moved back a couple of steps so the door could open.

Annabeth smiled a bit as she saw Percy. "Hi."

"Hi. I brought wine and cookies. I, uh, I hope that's okay." Percy replied.

Desert. That's what she forgot. "Yeah. It's perfect."

"Cookies!" James smiled, looking up at Percy. "You got cookies?"

"Yeah. Some special blue cookies." He smiled.

James' eyes widen. "Blue cookies?!"

Annabeth chuckled as she shut the door. "Dinner will be ready in five minutes."

Percy nodded. "So, can I put this down somewhere?"

Annabeth took the wine. "The cookies go on top of the fridge, otherwise James can get to them."

Percy nodded and put the cookies up in the high place. "Is there anything you need me to do?"

"No. Everything is just about ready to come out. But, how do you like your burger?"

"Medium rare." He told her. "So, how good are your burgers?"

"I think pretty good. My critic loves them." She nodded towards James, who went back to playing with his toys.

"Well, then they must be really good." He smiled.

Annabeth served dinner, making sure James ate some salad since she knew he would try not to eat his veggies.

Percy poured Annabeth some wine before pouring himself some. "I never had wine with burgers."

"Me either." Annabeth replied before taking a sip.

Dinner went by without a hitch. James was on his best behavior as he ate his dinner. Annabeth guessed it was because of Percy. She was impressed with Percy's baking skills. His blue cookies were delicious. They melted in her mouth.

Percy helped Annabeth clean up after she got James down for bed. She was tired after a long day.

"Dinner was amazing Annabeth." Percy said as he loaded the dish washer with the pre-rinsed plates.

"Thanks. Those blue cookies though. They were amazing." She told him as she added another plate to the pile.

"Confession, my mom made those cookies. After I saw you in the store, I went to her place and she made me the cookies." He turned a bit pink.

"Well your mom makes delicious cookies." She turned off the water.

"I'll tell her that." Percy smiled.

Annabeth poured some soap in before shutting the door and starting it. "Would you like some coffee or tea?"

"Tea would be great."

Annabeth started to fill her pot with water and turned on the stove.

Percy walked around the apartment. There were picture of her and James all around with some artwork that James made for her.

"I'm sorry if this sounds awkward, but what happened to James' father?" Percy asked.

Annabeth looked at the two steaming cups of water in front of her. She brought it to the table with a box of different tea bags.

Percy looked at her. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

She took a deep breath. "He was in the army. He died on a mission before James was born. We were suppose to get married when he got back."

"I'm so sorry." Percy whispered.

"It's fine." She replied grabbing a tea bag and putting it in her cup.

Percy picked out a tea bag and put it in his cup. "So, what do you do for a living?" He wanted to change the subject.

"I work at an architect firm." She replied.

"So you build buildings." He said.

"No," She slightly rolled her eyes. "I design them and then make sure construction goes to plan."

He nodded. "So, design anything I know?"

"No, nothing famous yet." She replied. "What about you?"

"Biology teacher at the high school and the varsity swim coach." He told her.

"Sounds busy."

"It pays the rent." He replied.

She smiled a bit as she sipped her tea. "You must love kids."

"Yeah. Honestly, the littler kids are the best. I love teaching my level ones and twos at the Y. The older kids are harder to keep interested. The little ones love the water."

She smiled.

They spent the rest of the night talking about their jobs and Annabeth wished that the night could go on, but it was almost midnight and both of them had work the next day.

"Thank you for dinner." Percy said as he was getting ready to leave.

"It's no problem." She smiled. "Come over anytime."

"I might have to take you up on that." He chuckled. "I can always use a home cooked meal and spend time with James."

She smiled. "Okay." She opened the door. "Have a good night."

Percy smiled at her. "Goodnight Annabeth." He leaned down and kissed her cheek.

She could feel the blood rush to her cheeks as he left.


	4. The Surprise

"Mommy! Come on!" James tugged on her hand so they could go into the pool area.

It was Saturday, so that meant swim lessons with Percy, which both of them enjoyed.

"Okay okay." Annabeth giggled. "What do you want to do today?"

"Jump in!" He told her, jumping up and down.

She smiled. "Lets go say hi to Percy."

They walked into the pool area and Percy was there, getting some things from the supply closet.

"Percy! We're here!" James announced.

Percy turned around and smiled. "Give me one second, okay? I'm trying to find something special."

James grinned. He loved his swim lessons.

He went over to Percy and tried to see if he could find the special thing Percy was talking about.

"Uh huh. No peeking." Percy told him.

He pouted. "Why?"

"Cause then it won't be a surprise." He replied. "Ask mommy to go into the pool with you and do five bobs."

James went over to his mom and pulled her hand so she could go into the pool with him. Annabeth did and watched him do his five bobs. He shook his head and got her wet.

"Mommy's wet." He giggled.

"That's cause you got me wet." She picked him up.

Percy came over with a small life jacket. "We're going to go to the deep end today."

"Over there?" James asked pointing towards the diving boards.

"Yup. But you need to put this on. This is called a life jacket. It helps you float."

Annabeth helped James out of the pool before getting out herself.

"You put this on like a coat." Percy told him as he helped James put it on. "And these buckles make sure it doesn't fall off." He told him as he buckled the straps across the vest and making them tight. He then buckled the strap that went between his legs.

"Does mommy get one?" James asked.

Percy looked at Annabeth. "I don't know. Does mommy know how to swim?"

"Yeah, I know how to swim." Annabeth replied.

"Good. Cause you're going to jump in with him." He smiled. He grabbed a rescue tube before they headed to the deep end.

Percy jumped in first with the tube. He broke the surface and looked at the two of them. "Jump!"

James looked at his mom and squeezed her hand.

She smiled at him. "On three. One, two, three!"

She jumped into the pool but James let go at the last second. She broke the surface and looked at Percy then James.

"Come on sweetie. It's nice." Annabeth told him. "It's not scary."

"No! It's deep!"

Percy gave her the rescue tube before swimming to the edge. He got out and picked James up. "Come on bud. Don't you want to swim with mommy?"

He shook his head. "No!"

Percy sighed. He looked at Annabeth and mouthed, "I'm sorry" before throwing James into the pool.

Annabeth gasped as James hit the water. He went under for a second before coming up. He was crying and screaming.

Percy jumped in and swam over as Annabeth tried to comfort her son.

"What as that?" She asked, shocked.

"He needs to trust the life jacket. This way if he is in deeper waters he can trust that his life jacket will save him."

Annabeth kissed James' head, hoping he would calm down.

James stopped crying after a few minutes and looked at Percy. He splashed him, angrily.

"I won't do it again today. I promise." Percy told him. He grabbed his life jacket and dragged him to the edge of the pool.

Percy got out before pulling James out. "Want to watch me do some dives?"

James slightly nodded as Annabeth got out of the pool.

Percy went to the diving boards and got to the edge. He jumped and did a swan dive into the pool.

James smiled a bit when Percy broke surface. "Again!"

"Want to see me do a big canon ball?"

James nodded eagerly.

Percy got out and did a few huge jumps before doing a canon ball. The splash got James a little wet.

James got up. "I wanna do that!"

Percy grinned. "You want to try?"

He nodded.

Annabeth walked with James to the diving board. They walked up together and James jumped right off this time. He hit the water

and laughed.

Percy was smiling. "Good job bud."

At the end of the lesson, Percy gave James a high five. "Good job today bud."

"Thank you!" He grinned.

Percy looked at Annabeth. "And good job to you too, Annabeth. I'm sorry about not telling you about throwing him in."

"It's okay. I know you just wanted him to trust the life jacket." She replied. "But I think we had fun today."

Percy smiled. "Good. But, uh, do…do you want to get coffee with me sometime to discuss…uh…James' progress?"

Annabeth smirked. "Are you asking me out?"

Percy turned pink. "Maybe."

She giggled. "Sure. I'll go on a date with you."

He grinned. "Perfect. I'll pick you up tomorrow at five?"

"It's a date."


	5. The Date

Annabeth looked at herself in the mirror and took a deep breath. She was wearing a dark jeans, a light blue blouse, and a white cardigan. Her blonde hair was loose curls and she was going to wear black flats.

"Come on out here, Annabeth. I want to see what you picked for your date." Her best friend and babysitter, Piper, called.

Annabeth walked over to her. "Is this too casual? He said to dress nice but not too nice."

Piper looked at her and Annabeth could see how her mind was thinking. "Do you have that black high waisted skirt?"

"Yeah, but it's-"

"True." Piper concluded, like she was reading Annabeth's mind. "You look great! Percy is going to love it."

Annabeth took another deep breath, trying to calm her racing nerves. This is the first date she's going to go on since….since James' father.

"Nervous?" Piper asked.

Annabeth's eyes went to James, who was contently playing with blocks. "Yeah. I haven't been with a guy since…since Luke."

"I know. But it's been three years. And Percy seems like the perfect guy for you. And he loves James. You said when you were ready to date you wanted a guy that loves kids, especially James. And now you got him."

She nodded. "And James loves him. He's always excited to see him and go to swim lessons."

"Then he's the one! From everything you told me, he's everything on your check list." She grinned.

Annabeth blushed a bit. She's told Piper her check list before she even met Luke and then the updated version when Luke died, two years later.

The doorbell rang and James got up to run to the door. "Who is it?"

"It's Percy."

James tried to open the door but he was too short to reach the knob.

Annabeth went over and opened the door.

Percy was smiling. He was wearing a dark blue jacket, green shirt, dark jeans, and dress shoes. It looked like he attempted to

tame his messy black hair but failed miserably. And he had flowers in his hands. "For you."

Annabeth took the half a dozen flowers and smiled. "Thank you."

James looked up and him and reached, signalling that he wanted to get picked up.

Percy did and smiled. "Hey bud."

Annabeth turned her back to them so she could put the flowers in water. Piper was grinning and giving her thumbs up. She sighed and filled a tall glass with water before putting the flowers in.

James brought Percy to Piper. "Aunty Piper! This is Percy!"

"Nice to meet you Percy." Piper smiled.

"Aunt Piper?"

"Not by blood. Annabeth and I are best friends." She explained. "And I will be babysitting this little ball of energy while you take Annabeth out."

He nodded and looked at Annabeth who was slipping on her shoes.

"Bed time at eight sharp, not too many sweets. And-"

"No soda. I know the drill. I've watched him since he was a baby." Piper rolled her eyes. "Go have fun. And Percy, I want her home by midnight."

"Yes, ma'am." Percy smiled a tiny bit.

Annabeth bent down and kissed her son's head. "Be good for Aunt Piper."

He nodded.

"I love you."

"Love you mommy!"

She smiled and headed out with Percy.

She was nervous and anxious and excited. Her first date since Luke. What if she forgot dating etiquette? What if she doesn't remember how to kiss?

"Are you okay? You seem kind of nervous." Percy said.

"Uh? Oh. Yeah. I just haven't been on a date since James' dad." She looked down. Was she suppose to talk about her ex with the guy she's out on a date with?

"Oh." Percy scratch the back of his neck.

Annabeth straightened up. Note to self: Don't bring up Luke. "So, where are we going?"

"To get some dinner." He replied. "I know a great diner."

"Diner?"

"Don't worry. It will feel like a five star restaurant, even if it doesn't look like it." He smiled.

They walked a few blocks before Percy turned right and there was a diner that looked right out of the fifties.

They went right in and the hostess, an older woman, smiled at Percy. "Percy! It's nice to see you!"

"It's nice to see you too Mrs. Underwood." Percy smiled.

"Who is this?" She asked, eyeing Annabeth. "A date?"

Percy gave her a lopsided smile before nodding.

"Oh! A date! I'll make sure Grove makes you a wonderful meal!" The old lady grinned.

"Grover's here? I haven't seen him since college." Percy's eyes went wide.

"Yeah, he's in the back calling orders. I'll tell him you're here." She lead the two of them to an empty booth before going to the kitchen.

Annabeth looked at him. "So, I'm guessing you take all your dates here? Since I guess you get a discount for knowing the owners."

"No, I don't actually. I thought you might enjoy this place as much as I do. You don't seem like the kind of girl who would enjoy going to a fancy restaurant."

"And you're absolutely right." She told him.

Mrs. Underwood came back out with a guy, maybe a year or two older than them, following behind them.

"Grover!" Percy smiled.

"Percy? Percy! How are you?" Grover grinned.

"I'm good. I'm actually out on a date right now." Percy nodded towards Annabeth. "Grover, this is my date, Annabeth. Annabeth, this is my best friend from kindergarten, Grover."

Her and Grover exchanged hellos before Grover looked at Percy. "I'll make sure the chief makes something good for the both of you."

"Thanks man." Percy smiled.

Grover said his goodbyes before heading to the kitchen.

Annabeth looked at Percy. "He's nice."

Percy nodded in agreement. "Yeah, my best friend. I haven't seen him because the last time I talked to him, he was on his way to California."

"Oh, maybe he came back to see his mom for a bit."

"Maybe. But we're on a date. I'm suppose to get to know you better."

She chuckled. "Percy, we see each other every weekend. I feel like I know you."

"Really? Then what's my favorite color?"

"Blue." She replied. "Try something harder."

He smiled. "Okay. What's the name of my motorcycle?"

Annabeth raised an eyebrow. "You ride a motorcycle?"

He smirked. "Yup. And his name is Blackjack."

"Why do you need Blackjack? We live in a city." She told him.

"My mom lives about an hour out of the city."

Annabeth looked at him. "So that night when I invited you over to my house-"

"I called my mom and told her to make me the cookies and rushed to her place and back." He told her.

"And your mom didn't ask any questions?"

"Oh, she did. She asked what's the girl's name. And I told her your name and about James."

Annabeth's heart stopped. "You told her about James?"

He nodded. "And she was excited I finally got a girlfriend since she moved."

"G-Girlfriend?"

He scratched the back of his neck. "I only lied so I could get out of there faster. But I really wanted you to become my girlfriend. And if anything didn't happen I could say that we broke up."

"You lied to your mom about me?"

"A white lie. I knew I wanted to go out with you. But I didn't know how to ask you out until the other day. I really do like you and James. I love having the two of you in my life. And I really want to know you even better." He told her. "I promise, I'm not doing this to be cheesy or anything. I do really like you."

Annabeth didn't know what to say, luckily Mrs. Underwood brought out food.

It smelled delicious and something that a normal fifties diner wouldn't sell; steak with mashed potatoes and string beans.

"Thank you Mrs. Underwood." Percy told her.

She smiled. "Enjoy!"

Percy turned back to Annabeth. "You don't believe me, do you?"

"I do. Percy, to be honest, you are the first guy I really liked since James' dad. And I don't want to mess this up. That's why I'm so scared."

Percy smiled a tiny bit. "Don't worry. You'll be great at it. I'm the one who should worry. I haven't been on a date since high school."

She chuckled. "Okay."

He smiled and got up. He moved over to her and sat next to her.

"I know I'm suppose to wait until the end of the date, but is it alright if I kiss you now?"

Annabeth turned bright red before she nodded. The next thing she knew, Percy's soft lips were on hers.


	6. So How Serious is This?

"Spill! Spill! Spill!" Piper quickly said once the door was closed. She was sitting on the couch watching TV with ice cream in her lap.

"What is there to spill?" Annabeth asked as she took off Percy's Jacket.

Piper raised an eyebrow. "You're wearing his jacket. You're home late." Her eyes widen. "YOU TWO HAD SEX!"

"NO!" Annabeth told her. "Percy and I did not have sex. It was an amazing first date though."

"What did you two do?" She asked, moving the ice cream to the coffee table so she could sit on her knees. "Where did he take you?"

"He took me to a diner."

"A diner? That's not very first date worthy."

"It was great though. They brought us steak and chocolate cake for dessert. Then we went for a walk on the west side."

"When did you two kiss?!" Piper asked.

Annabeth blushed. "At the diner right before we started eating."

"Oh, so he doesn't play by the rules I see." She smirked. "What other first date rules did he break?"

"Those rules don't exist." Annabeth said, sitting next to her. "How was James?"

"You mean the little kid who decided that during finger painting, it would be a great idea to put his hand prints on my butt? He's sleeping."

Annabeth giggled. "I'm so sorry."

"It's fine. You owe me a buck for using the washer and drier." Piper told her.

"You ate my ice cream. I think that's payment enough." Annabeth looked at her empty container.

"Mommy, where are we going?" James asked as they got on the A train.

"We're going to see Percy." She told him as she held onto his hand in the crowded car.

"Why?" He asked.

"He invited us over for dinner." She told him.

It was more than that. Percy called her yesterday for dinner and told her that his mom and step dad were in town and they were dying to meet her and James.

She was trying to keep her nerves down. And James was helping a bit.

He was wearing his brown fall jacket, jeans, sneakers, and his Spiderman backpack that had all of his toys in it. His blue eyes were just like his dad's, which calmed her down.

They got off the train and walked to his apartment. James was trying to jump over every crack that he saw.

Annabeth had to double check that they were in the right place. The apartment looked nice and had a door man waiting right in the lobby.

"Visiting?" He asked as they started to go to the elevators.

"Yeah, uh, Percy Jackson?"

He looked at a book that was behind the desk. "Miss Chase?"

"Yeah. That's me."

"Okay, I'll let him know that you are coming up." He smiled before gesturing her to go on up.

James ran to go hit the elevator button. He kept hitting it until an elevator arrived.

They got in and Annabeth pressed the button to his floor, three.

"Mommy, do you think Percy will like my toys?" James asked.

She looked down at him, smiling a bit. "Of course. He loves your toys."

He grinned as the elevator dinged. The doors opened and he jumped onto the floor. Annabeth followed him and walked to Percy's door, 3C. James did the honors of knocking on the door for her.

Within a few seconds the door opened and a woman with dark hair with a few gray streaks in it, the most loving and caring eyes eyes, and the warmest smile was right behind it.

"You must be Annabeth!" She smiled. Her eyes went down to James, who was now hiding behind her legs. "And this must be James." She looked right back at Annabeth. "I'm Sally, Percy's mom."


	7. I Need a Minute

"Hi, Mrs. Jackson. It's nice to meet you." Annabeth smiled.

"Mom, don't scare her and James away." Percy said, going over to the door. He saw them and smiled. "Hey. You look lovely."

"Thanks." She smiled as James smiled up at Percy.

Percy bent down to his level. "Hey bud. It's so good to see you."

James gave him a hug which Percy gave back.

Percy picked him up and lead everyone back inside. There was a man sitting on the couch watching football.

"Annabeth, this is my step-dad, Paul. Paul, this is my girlfriend Annabeth and her son James."

Paul got up and shook her hand. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"Same here." She smiled.

Percy put James down and he took off his backpack.

"So, Annabeth, what do you do for a living?" Sally asked as she went to the kitchen.

"I'm an architect." She replied.

Sally smiled. "Have you made any buildings yet?"

"No, mostly redesigning buildings." She replied walking to the counter.

Percy came up behind Annabeth and wrapped his arms around her waist. It was comforting for her to know that he was here.

"How old is James?" Sally asked.

"Three. He'll be four next month." Annabeth replied.

"What happened to his dad?"

"Mom…" Percy warned. He wasn't sure if Annabeth was ready to tell his mom about her ex.

"Percy, it's fine." Annabeth told him. She looked at Sally. "James' dad was in the army and he went over seas. He was on a mission and went missing in action. They never found his body or any trace of him. So he was declared dead, thinking the enemy caught him torturing or killing him."

Tears were starting to blur her vision. No, she shouldn't be crying. She's been building up this mental wall for years about losing him.

"I-I need a minute." Annabeth hurried off to the bathroom.

Percy watched her go and then looked at his mother.

"Go check on her." Sally told him looking down. She looked as pained as Annabeth.

And Percy knew why. Something similar happened to his dad and his mom had the hardest time getting over losing his dad at sea until she met Paul.

Percy went to the door. He could hear Annabeth sobbing on the other side. He knocked.

"Annabeth, it's me." Percy whispered. "Open up."

She didn't open it right away. But she did after a few seconds. Her eyes were red and watery. There were red tear stains on her cheeks.

Percy walked in and closed the door behind him before hugging her.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry about that." He whispered. "My mom knows your pain. My dad got lost at sea a couple of months after having me."

He grabbed toilet paper and gently wiped her eyes when she didn't say anything. He kissed her head.

"I'm okay, Percy. I feel better." She whispered. "Just let me clean up."

He nodded and kissed her wet cheek. "I promise this dinner will get better."

She nodded and turned on the cold water. She wet her face with the cool water a few times before drying it off.

Percy opened the door and James was standing there. His big eyes looking up at them.

"Is mommy okay?" He asked, worried.

Annabeth bent down and picked him up. "I'm fine sweetie."

Percy looked at his mom who was still cooking. He could tell she was trying to keep busy. But she looked up when Annabeth came out.

"I'm sorry sweetie. I'm really sorry." Sally told her.

"It's fine. I just haven't talked about him in years." She told her. "I'm okay. I promise."

Sally walked over and hugged Annabeth. "It's going to be okay. Trust me, I know."

James looked at his mother and hugged her too.

"What are you making Sally?" Annabeth asked after a few minutes. "It smells delicious."

"Penne al a vodka." Sally replied. "And it's ready. James, do you want to help set the table?"

James nodded and squirmed to get down.

Annabeth watched as Sally taught him how to set the table. Percy came up to her and kissed her.

"You're going to love my mom's food, it's so delicious." Percy smiled. "And I helped."

"Then it must be delicious." She smiled, thinking that this night could only get better. And it did.


	8. Percy's First Sleepover

"Mommy! Swimming!" James whined as he waited outside her bedroom door with his swim trunk on, which he put on himself so they were on backwards.

Annabeth groaned, not wanting to get out of bed. Percy had decided that it would be a great idea to go on a date the night before and she didn't get home until one in the morning and slightly tipsy.

"Mommy!" He ran over and climbed on her. "Mommy, wake up! It's swim time!"

There was a flushing sound from the bathroom, which scared James.

"Mommy, there's someone in here!" He whispered, trying to get her up. "Mommy!"

"James? Buddy, why are you up?" The stranger asked as he walked over.

James looked at the stranger which took him a moment to recognize. "It's swim day, Percy."

"I know it's swim day, but it's six in the morning. You have two hours before swim time." Percy told him, picking him up off of Annabeth.

"But mommy always makes me breakfast before swimming." He pouted.

Percy smiled a bit. "I'll make you breakfast. Let mommy sleep. She had a long night."

He brought him to the small kitchen. He looked around to see what he could make for him, but there was barely any food.

"Mommy lets me have chocolate for breakfast." He smiled. "And chocolate milk."

"Yeah, I don't think chocolate isn't a meal." Percy replied, looking through the cabinets. Annabeth hasn't stocked up in a long time. There was almost nothing in there.

This worried him. Has she been starving themselves? James looked alright to him. Not malnourished or starving. He was a kid who was excited and ready for swim lessons.

"What did Aunt Piper get you for dinner last night?" Percy asked as he faced him.

"We went to McDonalds! I got a cool toy!" He smiled.

Percy smiled. "I bet. How about you get dressed and we'll get some bagels."

He nodded and went to his room to get dressed.

It was around seven when Percy and James came back from the bagel place. Percy got James settled in front of the TV with his bagel and chocolate milk, after a lot of begging.

Percy went into Annabeth's room. She was still asleep but her alarm was going off.

"Annabeth, Annabeth, wake up." Percy gently shook her.

She groaned but woke up. Her gray eyes looked up at him.

"Morning." She slightly smiled.

"Morning." He leaned down and kissed her. "You need to get up."

"You're his swim teacher, you can take him." She mumbled.

"I have other students after him. But I have a question, why isn't there any food in the apartment?"

"Rent." She groaned. "I needed to save up more money for rent so I didn't go shopping this week."

Percy sat down next to her. "Are you tight on money? Annabeth, I can help you out."

"No!" She sat up. "No. I don't need help. I've been doing fine on my own for three years."

"But James is getting older. He's going to want to do more things and that costs more money."

"Percy, we'll be fine." She started to move away. Three years she's been doing this with no help. Piper has always babysat, for free, but that's the only charity she was going to allow. She didn't need help with financial stuff.

"Annabeth, you can't starve James-"

"I'm not starving him! He's well fed!" She glared. "How dare you think I would do that to my son!"

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. But you can't do this to him or yourself." He told her. "Annabeth, you got to be healthy too."

She looked down. "Take James to swim lessons. I'll come pick him up."

"Okay. I'll see you there." He kissed her cheek.

She nodded and watched him leave her room.


	9. How?

Annabeth walked up to a building. Her heart was pounding as she went inside. It was beating so fast that she was afraid that her heart was going to jump out of her chest.

"May I help you?" The receptionist asked.

Her eyes went to the smiling receptionist.

"I'm here to visit. I received a call late last night about someone being here."

"Your name?"

"Annabeth Chase." She replied.

The receptionist looked at her computer, typing in something. "Can I see some photo ID?"

Annabeth handed her driver's license over and the lady looked at it before giving it back. She handed Annabeth a visitor's pass too.

"A nurse should be right over to direct you."

"Thank you." Annabeth put the visitor's pass on and looked around. Everything seemed to be normal around here.

People going through their daily lives and not feeling the anxiety she was feeling.

"Miss Chase?" A woman walked over to her.

"Yes." Annabeth replied.

The nurse smiled. "I'm Thalia, one of the nurses here. I'll show you to his room."

She nodded and followed her around the building. Her heart seemed to pound faster with every step she took. She was going to be one step closer.

The nurse stopped at a door labeled 12H.

"He should be in here." Thalia smiled before knocking on the door. "It's nurse Thalia." She opened the door a crack before opening it all the way. "You have a visitor."

Annabeth looked at the room, it wasn't much. A bed, a couch, a TV, the basics of a small hotel room. But her eyes landed on the person sitting on the couch, the back of his head towards her as he watched TV.

His head turned back and Annabeth's heart nearly stopped.

"Annabeth?"

She swallowed the lump in her throat. "H-Hi Luke."

Annabeth shook her head. She couldn't think about that right now. She was already late from picking up James from swimming. And the way that her and Percy left this morning, she didn't want him to think that she forgot.  
She ran into the Y and to the pool area. The humid air hit her face as she went to the gate that blocked off spectators from the pool.

Percy's eyes were focused on the swimmers in the pool and right by his side was James, blowing a whistle at the swimmers when Percy tapped his shoulder.

"Percy!" Annabeth shouted, trying to get his attention.

Percy looked up and saw her standing there.

"Can I have the whistle, bud?" He asked.

James pouted as he handed over his favorite toy.

Percy blew the whistle twice and the swimmers stopped when they got to the edge. "Take a mini break guys."

The swimmers hopped out of the pool and started talking to one another as Percy walked over with James and his wet dirty clothes.

"I'm so sorry Percy." Annabeth said as she got handed James' bag and then James. "I'm so sorry. I just lost track of time."

"You're a half hour late. Annabeth, I can't be on babysitting duty while I'm working."

"Percy, I'm really sorry." She pleaded. "I'm so sorry. Something came up and I needed to go."

He looked at her. "Is it serious? Or was it a work thing?"

She looked down at the floor for a moment before looking back up at him. "Percy, we need to talk about something."

Annabeth could see him freezing for a second. She could tell that he was thinking that she wanted to have the break up talk, which she doesn't want.

"Something came up and I need to talk to you about it." She quickly added and saw him relax a bit. "Come over after work?"

"Yeah. Is everything okay?" He asked gently.

"I don't know." She admitted.

"Annabeth," Luke got up from the couch and walked over to her.

He looked almost exactly like he did when she last saw him four years ago. There were some subtle changes; his blue eyes seemed duller, his hair was a bit longer, and there was a scar running from the bottom of his eye to his chin.

She looked up at him and felt like she was going to pass out. "You're alive."

The corner of his mouth twitched. "Barely."

She wrapped her arms around him, pulling him close. He still smelled the same.

"You look beautiful." He whispered before kissing her head. "Four years and you still take my breath away."

She looked up at him. "Luke, I need to tell you something."

He backed up a bit. His eyes scanning her as if her face was going to give him the answer.

"What?"

"I'm seeing someone." She replied, her eyes looking at his to see how he would handle the news. "It's been four years and I thought you were dead all that time-"

"It's okay. I knew that might be the case." He sighed. His eyes went to her left hand. "You took off your ring."

She swallowed hard. "Not exactly." She held up her right hand. Her engagement ring was on her middle finger. "I could never let you go Luke. But after a two years, I needed to attempt to move on. I just moved the ring to a different finger."

His eyes were locked on the ring and then went to her eyes.

"Is he nice? Does he treat you right?"

"Yes. He's nice, hard worker, and loves me. And I love him back." She admitted.

Luke nodded, understandingly. "And the baby? Is the baby okay?"

"The baby isn't a baby anymore." The corners of her mouth went up a bit. "His name is James Luke, he's turning four in a week, and he looks like you."

Luke looked at her for a moment before a smile appeared on his face. "I have a son? Does he know about me?"

"I told him about you as best as I could. But he's only three. He can only understand so much."

He bit his lip, which she remembered was his tick when he was nervous. "Can I meet him?"

There was a knock on her door around five. James ran to go answer it, excited to see Percy again.

Annabeth opened the door for him and he hugged Percy's leg.

"Hey." Percy greeted before kissing her. He looked down at James and rubbed his hair. "Buddy."

James let go of him and fixed his hair as he went to go play with his toys.

Annabeth could feel the lump in her throat forming as Percy looked at her. His green eyes full of concern for her.

"James' father is alive. He wants to meet him." Annabeth whispered.


	10. One-on-One

Annabeth and Percy were sitting down at the table as James was asleep in his bed.

Annabeth felt like her world was just turned upside down since she went to see Luke this morning. First, he was alive. He's been alive all of this time and he was in the city. Why didn't he call her when he got back? Why wait all this time? Second, he wanted to see James. James who has wondered about his dad before and was told that he was dead. How would he react to seeing Luke? Finally, Percy. Her current boyfriend, the guy that she loved dearly, and the guy that loved James. He was amazing and everything she wanted.

"What should I do?" She asked, looking into her coffee like it was going to give her the answer. "Should I let James see Luke?"

"What do you think about this?" Percy asked her. "Do you want Luke to be in his life?"

"I don't know." She sighed. "It's been four years, Perce. Why didn't he contact me sooner?"

"Maybe he was actually captured and missing in action. Did he say when he got back?"

"I couldn't stay after he asked about James." She admitted. "I was also running late by then."

Percy took her hand from across the table. "Maybe you should talk to him, make sure he's mentally stable before deciding to let him see James."

She nodded and looked down at her coffee again.

The next day, Annabeth went to visit Luke. Percy agreed to watch James for the time she was gone and he really wanted to spend time with him.

The nurse, Thalia, walked with her to Luke, who was taking a walk outside.

"Luke, you have a visitor." Thalia smiled at him.

Luke looked at Annabeth and smiled softly. "Thanks Thalia."

She nodded and backed up a bit to give them some space. Even though Luke looked stable, if anything should happen, Thalia would be right there.

"Hey, Annabeth. How are you?" Luke asked.

"I'm doing fine. How about you?"

"Good." He smiled. "Is James with you?"

Annabeth took a deep breath. "I wanted to talk to you first before I decide if I should let James meet you."

"Oh, uh, okay. Do you want to walk with me?"

She nodded and started to walk with him. Her heart was pounding as they walked. She was nervous, scared, and relieved all at one.

"When did you get back to the states?" She asked.

"About a month ago." He replied. "I tried to live on my own for a week but I couldn't, my PTSD is really bad. So, my friend, Ethan, he checked me into here to help me."

"And how's it now?" She asked.

Luke bit his lip. "It's…It's a bit better. I go to therapy twice a week. And we've talked about you and the possibility that you moved on. Which I know you did."

"Luke, I know you want to see James, but I want to know how you are mentally." She stopped walking and looked at him. "He's my little boy and all I want to do is protect him from getting hurt."

"I won't hurt him. I just want to meet him. The thought of you and our child was the only thing that got me through everything." Luke told her. "But I understand if you don't want me to see him or you again."

Her gray eyes looked at his blue ones. "Maybe on his birthday, but I need to think about it."

"His birthday? When is it?"

"It's soon. He's going to be four." She told him.

He nodded, smiling a bit. "What does he like?"

"Swimming, building things, cars, and drawing." She told him. "His favorite thing is swimming though. He loves jumping into the pool."

"He sounds like an amazing kid."

"He is." Annabeth agreed. "I need to go but, maybe I'll bring James next time."

"That would be great." Luke hugged her. "Thank you for visiting me."

"You're welcome." She slowly hugged him back.

Annabeth smiled as she kissed her little boy to death when he came into the living room of their apartment.

James giggled as his mom attacked him with kissed.

"Happy birthday, sweetie." Annabeth picked him up. "How old are you today?"

"Four!" He smiled. "I'm four mommy."

"I know you are my big man." She kissed his cheek.

James looked at the kitchen and saw Percy place a plate of pancakes on the table. He ran over and got up on his chair to eat his birthday breakfast.

"Happy birthday bud." Percy kissed his cheek.

"Thanks daddy." James said before he started eating.

Annabeth and Percy looked at each other as James stuffed his face. Both of them were sharing the same surprised look. James has never called Percy daddy before.

"What are we doing for my birthday?" James asked.

"Uh, well," Annabeth said, getting out of her shocked state. "We're going to go see someone special, go swimming, and have a nice dinner with Aunt Piper and Uncle Jason."

Percy looked at her, smiling a bit.

"Who are we seeing? Grandpa?" James asked.

"No, someone you haven't met yet." Annabeth told him.


	11. James' Birthday

Annabeth felt a bit sick. After a long talk with Percy, she decided on James' birthday, Luke would finally meet him. How could she deny Luke seeing their child? He waited four years to see him.

"Mommy, who are we seeing?" James asked as he held onto her and Percy's hand.

"I told you, someone special." She replied as they got to the hospital that was taking care of Luke.

She looked at Percy. He gave her an encouraging smile. She told him to come with them. She needed some type of back up just in case something happened.

Annabeth signed them all in before Thalia took them to see Luke. She picked up James, hoping that it would give her strength that she made the right decision.

Thalia stopped outside of his room and knocked on the door.

"Luke, you have visitors." Thalia smiled.

The door opened wider and Annabeth saw Luke sitting on his bed, watching TV and a gift wrapped up on the couch. His face lit up when he saw Annabeth and James.

"Hi." Luke looked at them. His eyes landed on James. "Hi there, bud. What's your name?"

James tried to hid his face into Annabeth's shoulder.

"It's okay sweetie. He's a friend of mommy's." She told him.

Luke looked at Annabeth. "Did you tell-?"

She shook her head, giving him a pleading look.

Luke looked back at his son. "Your mom told me it's your birthday. I got you a present." He got up and grabbed the present. James looked at the gift.

"Go ahead, sweetie. Open it." She put James down and he looked at Luke.

Luke bent down and smiled at James, handing him the gift. "Happy birthday."

James took the gift and slowly opened it. Luke smiled when James' eyes lit up.

"Do you like it?" Luke asked.

James nodded and smiled, looking at the remote controlled boat. "Thank you!" He looked at back at the door where Percy was hiding out. "Daddy! Daddy! I got a boat!" He got up and ran to Percy.

Annabeth could see the light in Luke's eyes dull. "Daddy?"

"He only started that this morning." Annabeth told him. "He doesn't know-"

"Who does he think he's' visiting?" Luke asked. "One of your friends?"

"How am I suppose to tell him Luke? After years of telling him the nicest way possible that you're dead?"

"That you were wrong. That daddy is alive because he made it home from war." Luke told her. "Anything to tell him that his dad is alive or the guy you're dating isn't his real dad."

"He knows Percy isn't his real dad. But Percy is the only father figure he got in four years."

Luke had tears in is eyes. "Let me tell him. He deserves to know. Or let me bond with him."

James walked back into the room and ran to Annabeth. "Mommy, look!"

"I see." She smiled. "James, there's something I need to tell you. The special person we came to see, the guy who gave you your present. He's…He's…."

Luke bent down and looked at James. "Bud, I'm you're daddy. I was gone for a very long time fighting bad people. But I'm back now."

"You're my daddy?" James asked.

"Yes. I'm your daddy." Luke smiled. "And I'm so happy to meet you."

Annabeth bit her lip and looked at Percy who was smiling and holding the toy.

James smiled and hugged him.


	12. Making the Right Choice

Annabeth watched as Luke helped James put together his toy boat. They were going to play with it in the fountain in the garden. She didn't know how to feel about this. She was glad that the two of them were bonding but at the same time she was scared of him losing Percy in the process. What if he couldn't handle her ex being back and taking care of her son? What if she ended up loving Luke more than him?

"Annabeth, are you okay?" She heard Percy's voice whisper into her ear. "You seem really stressed."

She looked back at him. His face was full of concern and his eyes were staring right at her, trying to figure out her complex thinking.

"How do you feel about this? About James with his dad?"

Percy took her hand. "James is four and his whole life he thought his dad was dead. Luke might not be right in the head but every boy needs their dad. Mine died when I was little and of course I loved my mom to death but there was no one there to talk to me about guy things until I was fifteen."

"And you aren't scared about me and him… getting back together?" She asked softly.

"Yes, I am. But if he makes you happy then I'll leave you two. But right now, it's James' birthday and I think he's ready to go play with his new toy."

She looked over at her son and he was smiling at his new toy. She could tell that he was itching to go play with it.

"Can we go play now?" He begged Luke. "Please!"

"Sure. Let's go play." Luke got up and carried the boat with him out the door. "Are you coming, Annie?"

Annabeth's heart stopped as she heard his nickname for her. She hasn't heard that for the longest time. When he "died" she forced everyone to call her Annabeth so she wouldn't think of him or linger on the thoughts of him for too long. But hearing that name now, made her think of how happy she was with him.

"Yeah, we're coming." She replied once she was out of her daze.

The four of them went to the fountain and Luke placed the boat in. He showed James how to control the boat before handing the remote over.

James was giggling as he played with his boat.

Annabeth tucked in a tired James at the end of the day. After playing with Luke, they went swimming with Piper and Jason before eating dinner. James' favorite part was when Percy put some cake on his nose after he blew out the candles.

Once James was tucked in, she went to her bed, exhausted. Percy was already in bed, watching a video on his phone. He looked up when he saw her walk in.

"Tired, Miss Chase?" He smiled.

She smiled back as her eyes scanned his muscular swimmer's body. A shiver went throughout her body.

"Yeah. Being mom tires you out." She replied as she stepped out of her dress. She grabbed her pajamas and put them on before taking off her bra.

Annabeth got into bed and cuddled up next to him. She could feel her eyes getting tired as she listened to his heart beat.

"So I was thinking." Percy started.

"That's a first." She teased.

Percy rolled his eyes. "As I was saying, I was thinking that your lease is almost up and I've been basically over here every night. And this apartment isn't big enough for the three of us. So, I was wondering if you would like to move in with me."

"Move in with you?" She asked shocked. "Percy, I don't think that would be a good-"

"It'll be good. I have a bigger apartment and it's in a nicer neighborhood. And we can be a family where I don't have to constantly bring my things back and forth." He told her. "You asked if I was afraid of you leaving me, but I'm not. Like I said, I want you to be happy. And if you don't want to move in with me, then that's fine too. But I want to live with you and James."

"Can we talk about this more in the morning?" She asked. "This day was just very overwhelming for me."

"Of course." He smiled. "Get some rest."

He kissed her goodnight before turning the light off.


	13. A Little Help

Annabeth watched as Percy taught James how to do the backstroke. It was more like an attempt. His arm movement wasn't quite right but the idea was there.

Just like the idea that Percy planted in her head; to move in with him. She's been thinking about this a lot, every moment that her mind wasn't on James.

She made a pros and cons list, like she did every time she was going to make a big decision. And she ran it through her head again.

Pros:  
 _1) I don't have to struggle for rent money._  
 _2) James will be able to have two people watching over him constantly._  
 _3) The feeling James will have that he might actually have a family._  
 _4) I'll be closer to work._  
 _5) No more rundown smelly apartment._  
 _6) The better schools James can attend to._  
 _7) I get to be with the guy I love._

Cons:  
 _1) Possibility that Luke will be in James' life more and Percy would have to see him._  
 _2) The extra burden I will put on Percy. (ie: Him helping me pay for daycare)_  
 _3) Percy will be taking on a responsibility (fatherhood) that he might not want._  
 _4) We break up and I have to move back out with James._

"Mommy, look!" James shouted to snap her out of her list making.

She looked up and saw James dive under the water to grab a ring Percy was holding at his knee. When he broke the surface, he had the ring held high above his head, very proud of his achievement.

"Good job, sweetie." She forced a smile to be proud of him.

James grinned and handed the ring back to Percy, asking to go again. Percy put the ring back under the water for him.

"You thinking hard over there?" Percy asked while James was briefly underwater.

"Yeah." She replied, dully. She slipped back into the water and walked over to him.

"I can tell. Usually you're very active during these swim lessons." Percy told her. "What's going on?"

James broke the surface and handed Percy the ring. He put it under the water again and James went after it.

"Just thinking about things." She replied.

"Like my offer?" He asked. "Annabeth, you don't have to take it."

James tugged on Percy's shorts. "Can I jump now?"

"Sure, bud." Percy brought him to the edge and moved back a bit.

Annabeth walked over to Percy's new spot. Her arms crossed as she kept thinking.

"I'm still considering it." She told him. "I have a week left."

"I know." Percy slightly groaned as he caught James. "But I thought I would have an answer by now."

"Why's that?"

"So I can start moving some of my stuff and help bring some of your stuff over before you get kicked out." He replied as he brought James back to the edge.

"Don't catch me." James told Percy sternly. "I can do it myself."

Percy moved back and kept a close eye on him. Annabeth stopped talking to him and watched her son jump into the pool. He came back up, smiling.

"Good job James! I am so proud of you." Annabeth told him. She went over and picked him up. She planted a kiss on his head. "Oh so proud."

James giggled and held onto her. "Did you see me? I jumped in all by myself."

"I know. I know." She smiled.

"Daddy, did you see me?" James asked Percy. "I'm a big boy!"

Percy smiled at him. "I know you are. But it's time to go. I'll see you later, alright?"

James nodded.

Annabeth looked at Percy. "I have this week's mon-"

"It's fine." Percy told her. "Don't worry about it."

"I can pay for his lessons, Percy. You're providing a service and you need to be paid for that service."

"I'm not taking my girlfriend's money. And I love doing this for him and you."

She looked at him. "I don't care if I'm you're girlfriend. You're getting paid."

He looked at her. "Can we talk about this later? Not in front of James."

"I want to talk about this now." She shifted James a bit.

What she didn't notice is that James was starting to feel uncomfortable. He wasn't looking at her or Percy. His head was down and into the crook of her neck.

"Not now. Not in front of James. He's already uncomfortable." Percy told her. "And I have a lesson."

She looked down at James. "Alright. I'll see you later."

Annabeth brought over some tea for her and Piper. She needed Piper to come over to help her decide on everything.

"I say move in with him." Piper told her as she took her tea. "After everything you told me, move in with him."

Annabeth sat down next to her. "But what about the cons?"

"They're all 'what if' scenarios." She told her. "You can't base your decision on 'what if'. You have someone who loves you and care about James as much as you. I know you are independent and all that, but sometimes, you need to think about what's best for yourself."

"And moving in with Percy is the best option? You know what he told me today? That he won't take my money for the swim lesson's." She told him. "He doesn't want to get paid."

Piper sighed and put her cup down on the coffee table. "It's weird that he's getting paid by his girlfriend. His girlfriend is paying him."

"For his services." She said and a realized something. "That's not what I meant."

Piper giggled a tiny bit. "Look, he can afford to not get paid by one person. And that one person is his girlfriend. He doesn't want your money. He's also been putting your money back into your wallet when you aren't looking. It's been about two months now."

There was a knock before the door opened. Percy walked in and saw Piper there.

"Oh, hi." He smiled slightly. "Can I talk to Annabeth? Alone?"

"Sure. I'll go make sure James is okay while he's napping." Piper got up and went into James' room.

Annabeth looked at Percy, wanting to tell him what she decided.

"I'm sorry." Percy said at the same time Annabeth said, "I want to move in with you."

"What?" Percy asked. "You want to move in with me?"

"Yeah. I do." She smiled. "I can start moving in as soon as possible. I think when I tell James he will be excited."

Percy smiled and and took her hand. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I haven't talked about the payment for James' lessons. I think it's weird that you're paying me and the money I'm getting is going back to spend on you."

"Piper told me that you've been giving me back my money without me knowing."

Percy sighed. "She can't keep her mouth shut."

Annabeth giggled and kissed him.


	14. A Day at School

Annabeth looked at her empty apartment. The apartment she rented when she just got a job in the city and was pregnant with James. Something that was affordable with just her soon income.

Four years as James' home. Four years of her working so hard to make sure food was on the table for James.

"Is that everything?" Percy asked her.

"Yeah." She replied. "Um, we need to just drop off the keys and then pick up James from daycare."

Percy wrapped an arm around her and kissed her cheek. "Alright."

In his other hand was the last box of Annabeth's stuff. It was bed sheets and blankets. She took his hand and walked with him downstairs. After, dropping off her keys, they walked to James' daycare.

When James saw them, he ran over and hugged his mother. She looked at him. "Hey sweetie."

"Is the house empty?" He asked. "Are we going to daddy's?"

"Yup." She picked her son up. "We get to live with Percy now."

He smiled as Percy signed him out.

"I can't wait to sleep at daddy's!" James up and down. "Can we go now?"

They went to their new home. Percy and Annabeth had gotten a new apartment together, once they realized that Percy's apartment wouldn't allow James to have a room to himself. But his lease wasn't up for another month, so James was going to sleep in the living room while Percy and Annabeth got the bedroom.

Everything was still in their boxes and bags. They were going to uses Percy's things for the month.

Annabeth smiled a bit, glad that she made this decision.

Annabeth was speed walking to Percy's school with James in her arms. She got a call saying the school was going to close early today so it could get fumigated for the weekend. And Percy was suppose to pick James up today but he had swim practice.

She got to the school entrance and the security guard called Percy. Luckily Percy had a prep this period and he could watch James.

"Hey," Percy smiled and kissed Annabeth on the cheek. "They didn't give us much warning about this, huh?"

"No." She replied, handing James over. "But I need to go back to work."

"Mommy!" James said, wanting a kiss from her.

Annabeth kissed his cheek. "I love you. Be good."

He nodded and held onto Percy.

Percy looked at him. "Lets go see where I work, and maybe you can help grade some papers."

James nodded as Percy carried him through the halls. He looked around with wide eyes since he's never been to Percy's work before.

"Daddy, where is everyone?"

"In class." He replied. "They're all learning."

"Do I get to come to school like this?" He asked, squirming to get down. "Do I get to learn?"

"When you're older you will. Next year you get to go to kindergarten." Percy told him as they got to the room. He opened his door and put James down.

He started to run through the desks like he was in a maze. Percy sat down and looked through the quizzes.

The bell rang and James jumped at the sound.

"What was that?" He asked as the halls started to fill with noise.

"The bell that tells everyone that it's time to change classes. I need you to come sit a table in the back, okay? I'll give you some paper and color pencils to color."

James nodded and followed Percy to the back of the classroom where all the lab tables were at. Percy placed him on top of a stool before getting paper and colored pencils.

As students started to file in, they all noticed the little student in the back of room. James was humming a nursery rhyme to himself as he colored.

The bell rang again and everyone settled into their seats. Percy started his lesson and kept an eye on James as he taught. When his back was turned, James got down from his stool and walked over to one of Percy's female students. He smiled up at her and gave her his drawing.

She smiled at him. "Thank you."

James smile and to his stool. He climbed back up and started coloring again. Throughout the class, James kept handing out his pictures to the students. But he kept going back to the first girl he gave his first picture to.

"What's your name?" James asked the girl as the students were taking a quiz.

The girl smiled at him. "Hazel." She whispered.

"I'm James!" He grinned.

Percy came over and picked him up. "You need to be quiet. They're taking a quiz."

"What's a quiz?" He asked.

"A small test." Percy replied. "You want to be my little assistant at swim practice today?"

"Do I get to blow the whistle?" James asked, getting excited.

"Of course. But you need to stay back here so the students could focus." Percy told him.

He nodded.

James was having a grand time blowing Percy's whistle at practice. He looked at the swimmers. They were use to having James be Percy's little coach.

As the kids were taking a break, James saw Hazel sitting on the front row of the bleachers.

He walked over and smiled up at her. "Hi Hazel!"

"Hi James." She smiled. "Are you having fun?"

"Yes! I love helping daddy."

Hazel chuckled. "It looks like you are."

A guy came over, dripping with water, and looked up at Hazel. Hazel smiled at the newcomer.

"Hey." Hazel greeted the guy.

"Hey. Have you met Coach Jackson's-?"

"Yup. He drew me some picture during bio today." She looked at the four year old. "I'm going to keep them forever."

James grinned up at her.

"You're doing really well out there." Hazel looked at the guy.

"Thanks. Are we still on for tonight?"

"Yeah." She smiled.

The guy leaned up as Hazel leaned over the railing to kiss him. He went back to the pool.

"Is he your boyfriend?" James giggled.

"Yes." She replied. "You know Frank."

James eyes lit up. "Frank is really fast and can do the butterfly!"

Hazel smiled and nodded.

Percy came over and looked at James. "Are you ready, mini coach?"

James nodded. He waved to Hazel before going with Percy back to his coaching station.


	15. I Want to See Daddy

Annabeth rushed around the apartment. She still couldn't find anything since they didn't unpack. Only two more weeks then they can get a bigger place. Temporary set back. She reminded herself.

She found the flats she wanted and took them out to the living room. Today was date day with Percy. He had a whole day planned out for them and she was excited but also nervous to leave James with a new babysitter.

There was a knock on the door and Percy answered it.

"Hey Hazel. Thank you for doing this." Percy greeted.

"It's not problem Mr. Jackson. I'm happy to babysit." She smiled. Her eyes landed on James and he smiled.

James ran over to show Hazel his boat.

Annabeth looked at the girl. "His bedtime is eight to eight thirty. No soda, only ginger ale if he wants something bubbly. If you need me, my number is on the fridge along with our friend's number if for some reason neither of us can answer."

"Okay." Hazel smiled.

"I left money for pizza." Percy added. "We'll be home by ten."

"Sounds good." Hazel smiled.

Annabeth bent down and kissed her son's cheek. "Be good for Hazel. Listen to her."

"Okay mommy." James smiled at her.

Annabeth gave him one last kiss before her and Percy left for their date.

James looked at Hazel with a smile. "Can we go to the park?"

Hazel smiled and nodded. She helped him put on his sneakers before taking his hand and the extra set of keys. James was jumping as they went to the park.

When they got there, Hazel watched as he ran to the jungle gym to go down the slide. She sat on a bench and watched him carefully.

James ran to the back of the play set and saw his father, taking a walk with his nurse. He ran over to Luke.

"Hi!" James grinned.

Luke looked at his son and smiled a bit. "Hey there. What are you doing here?"

"Playing at the playground." He pointed to the play set.

Luke bent down at his level. "Is mommy here?"

James shook his head.

"What about daddy?"

James shook his head again.

This worried Luke. It wasn't like Annabeth or Percy to leave James alone, especially at a playground.

"Who are you here with?" He asked.

"Hazel! She's my babysitter!" James replied. "We came to the park so I can play! But I got to see you!"

Luke's smile grew wider. "I'm glad to see you too. But you should go back to your babysitter before she gets worried."

"But I want to play with you." James pouted. "I never get to play with you."

Luke looked at Thalia. "Is it alright?"

She nodded and Luke followed James to the playground.

"Can you please push me on the swing?" James asked him. "Please daddy?"

Luke smiled and brought him to the swing. He gently pushed his son and he never felt so connected with him. He missed four years of his life and pushing him on a swing, a memory he could never forget.

James was laughing as Luke pushed him.

"Excuse me!" Hazel came over, furious. "You need to get away from him right now."

Luke carefully stopped the swing as he looked at the girl before him. His babysitter, he thought.

"I'm sorry. He wanted me to push him." Luke told her as she pulled James towards her, protectively.

"I did Hazel! He's my daddy!" James told her. "My other daddy."

Hazel just glared at Luke. "We're leaving."

"But, I want daddy." James' eyes started to tear up as Hazel started to walk away from Luke.

"He's not-"

"Actually he is." Thalia stepped in. "Luke is James' dad."

Hazel looked at Thalia. "If he doesn't get away, I'm going to call the cops. I don't care if he or isn't his father."

Thalia nodded respectfully and looked at Luke. "We can call Annabeth later and see if she could come visit with James later on in the week."

Luke bent down and looked at his son. "I'll see you soon, alright?"

James went over and hugged him. "Okay daddy."

Luke kissed his head before he let go and James went over to Hazel. He watched as his son was forced away from him.

He wanted James in his life more than anything in the world. But how could he if Annabeth never brought James over?


	16. What Happened to the Ring?

Percy opened the door for Annabeth as they came back from their date. She was smiling from their amazing date. They went to a nice restaurant and then a walk on the west side to hear some bands play.

"Hi Hazel." Percy smiled. "How did it go?"

"Good. We went to the park, had some pizza, played with some trains and boats, and had an ice pop." She replied.

"Sounds like a fun night." Annabeth smiled.

"Something happened at the park though. A man went over and pushed James on the swings. He said that he was James' dad."

Annabeth's smile dropped. "Did he have blond hair and a scar over his eye?"

"Yes."

"That was his dad. I'll take care of it. But thank you Hazel." Annabeth told her. "Do you need a ride home or anything?"

"No. I'm good."

Percy took out his wallet and paid Hazel before she left.

He looked at Annabeth with slight concern in his eyes. He knew he couldn't be disappointed or concern. It was Annabeth's decision in the end. He could put in his opinion but that was it.

"I'll talk to Luke tomorrow." Annabeth sighed.

Percy wrapped his arms around her waist. He knew their plan for after date sex might be out of the window.

"I can go talk to him if you want." He told her.

"No, I can do it. Maybe it's because he hasn't seen James in a while." She sighed. "I just…I just don't want to deal with all of this."

Percy kissed her cheek. He knew how stressed out she was since Luke came back into her life. It was hard trying to balance out her work and home life and now she wanted to bring James to see Luke.

"It'll be okay. We can figure it out." Percy told her.

Annabeth sighed and took off her shoes for the night. She walked to check on James. He was sleeping, curled up with his stuffed bear. It made Annabeth smile. She would do anything to protect him.

Annabeth walked into the home and signed in. She was trying to compose herself as she was escorted to Luke. Nurse Thalia was with him, talking.

Luke turned and saw her. The smile already on his face grew wider until he noticed James wasn't there, then it went back down.

"Hi Annabeth." He smiled. "Is James with you?"

"No, he's not." She replied. "I need to talk to you about what happened the other day. My babysitter saw you at the park."

"Yes, we were there." Thalia cut in. "He wanted to go for a walk in the park."

"I saw James and I wanted to say hi. Is that a crime?" He asked.

"No! No. I just wanted to make sure. My babysitter was just freaked out, that's all."

Luke nodded. "About James, I want to see him more often. I know you're busy, but I can take care of him if you want to go on a date with Percy. Thalia would be here with me. And I've been doing better."

Annabeth took a deep breath. "It would be good for him to see you more. I'll talk to Percy."

"Annabeth, he's my son."

"But Percy is his father figure. I'm not trying to cut you out of his life. But I want to make sure I'm making the right decision."

Luke sighed. "I just…I just want to see my son."

"You will, I promise." She told him.

Luke looked down at Annabeth's hand where she normally wore her wedding band. It was gone.

"Where's your ring?" He asked, a bit heartbroken.

"I took it off. It didn't feel right that I was wearing it in front of Percy." She told him. "I can give it back if you want it."

Luke sat there a bit stunned. His eyes were glued to her hand.

"That ring was a symbol of our love. Mine was the only one that kept me going all those years. I knew you were with Percy but you always wore your ring. Why did you suddenly change your mind?"

"I love Percy. He knew it was a big deal for me to take off my ring."

"Then why take it off? Did you want to forget your life with me? Our years together mean nothing to you?"

His voice was rising.

"Of course it did! But it's time for me to move on and I thought you understood that. You know I'm with Percy. You know that we…we wouldn't have a chance. I'll bring James to you but I can't be with you. I love Percy way too much."

Luke got up and walked over to Annabeth. Tears were in his eyes as he stared at her. "I love you Annabeth. I do. But I want to see that there's still hope between us."

"I think there's no hope between us." Annabeth was trying to be strong. "I love Percy. I'm not going to ruin something that makes me truly happy."

Luke moved away and was shaking.

"I'll bring James this weekend, I promise." Annabeth whispered.

Luke nodded and started to wipe away his tears.

Annabeth had the urge to go over and comfort him but Thalia walked over and wrapped her arm around him.

She took a deep breath and walked out.


	17. Trust

Annabeth and Percy brought James to see Luke. James was excited to see his dad after a week. Annabeth was nervous to leave James there while her and Percy ran errands.

Luke was right, he never got to see James and it wasn't fair. But what he felt towards her, she would have to talk to him about it a different time. Right now, she needed to focus.

"He's so excited to see him." Thalia smiled as they walked to Luke's room. "He bought some toys and craft stuff for him."

"He got me toys?!" James asked, getting excited.

Thalia nodded and knocked on Luke's door for them before opening it.

Luke was turning off the TV when the door opened. He turned and had a big smile on his face when he saw James.

"Hey James." Luke smiled. "Annabeth, Percy."

James ran over and hugged him. He was just as excited to see Luke as much as he was.

"Don't give him too much sugar." Annabeth told him. "Or soda. He can't drink soda. And he packed some toys. Mine and Percy's numbers are in his notebook."

"Annie, it'll be fine." He told her. He didn't look at her or Percy as he talked. "I'm his dad after all."

She looked at him before looking at her son who was starting to play with his new toys.

"James, be good, okay? I'll be back in a few hours." Annabeth told him.

James nodded and kept looking at the new toys.

Percy smiled and guided her out of Luke's room.

Luke looked at his son and went over to him. He got down on his knees to see his son playing with a GI Joe action figure. Luke smiled as he watched James.

"Are all these toys mine?" James asked.

"Yeah, I bought them for you so you would have toys to play with when you came over." Luke replied.

"Do I get to take them home?" He asked.

"If you want. But then you don't have toys here." Luke told him. He could see himself in James, the blue eyes and his curiosity. The way that James examined the toy, that was Annabeth.

"Oh, okay. The toys stay here." He decided before putting down the GI Joe. "Daddy, why do you live here?"

"Because I'm sick."

"You don't look sick." James replied.

"I'm not the type of sick where I'm coughing and sneezing and having a fever. I'm a different type a sick." He tried to explain.

"What kind of sick?" James asked, sitting next to his father.

"Um, well, sometimes I get really scared from noises or from something on TV that isn't suppose to be scary. The noises remind my brain from when the bad guys I was fighting against captured me." Luke slowly explained. He didn't want to scare his son, just educate him at a four year old level. "Remember me telling you about the bad guys capturing me?"

James nodded and looked at his dad with concern.

"Those memories scare me and I panic. Being here helps me become better so I don't panic as often."

"Does Thalia help you with that?"

"Yes she does." Luke looked up and smiled at her. "She helps me a lot."

James nodded and looked at Thalia. "Thank you for helping my daddy."

"Your welcome." She replied.

James turned his attention back to Luke. "Daddy, do you love mommy?"

"Yes, I do." He replied, sadness starting to overwhelm him.

"Then when you get better are you going to move in with us? Daddy also loves mommy and he lives with us."

Luke had the tiniest smile on his face. "I don't think so. Your mommy and Percy love each other very much. And I don't know when I will leave this place."

James pouted. "But, I want you to live with us."

"I'm sorry bud. But, I did get us some ice pops. Do you want one?" Luke asked changing the subject. He couldn't stay on this topic anymore.

"Annabeth, if you keep looking at your phone, you're going to walk right into the street." Percy warned her. "James is fine. I have confidence in Luke."

"What if something happens and I miss it?" She asked. "Some emergency or Luke is freaking out and I need to get James."

Percy took her phone and put it in his pocket. "You need to have confidence in Luke." He told her as they walked into a grocery store.

She looked at her boyfriend. "Luke got upset when he noticed I didn't have his wedding ring on. He completely freaked out."

Percy moved them over to the side so they weren't blocking the already crowded aisle.

"Look, some people handle breakups by freaking out. Maybe him not seeing you with his wedding ring told him that your relationship with him was over. That he wouldn't have a second chance. You got to give him time to heal."

Annabeth nodded and took a deep breath. "You're right."

Percy smiled a bit. "Well that's a first. I wish I recorded that."

"Shut up." Annabeth giggled before they started shopping.


	18. Help

Annabeth and Percy went to pick up James from Luke's. She was getting anxious to see her son again.

They signed in and headed to Luke's room and there was a nurse outside of his door with James in her arms.

Annabeth had a million things going through her mind as she went over to James. He reached for her and she gently took him from the nurse.

"What's going on?" Percy asked for them since Annabeth was fussing over James.

"He had a panic attack." The nurse informed them. "Nurse Grace is in there taking care of him."

"Oh. Thank you for getting James out of there." Percy told her. "Can you tell Luke that we came to pick him up?"

She nodded and the three of them left. Annabeth was holding onto James like her life depended on it. James didn't seem as frazzled as Annabeth was, more like he was confused on what was happening.

"Mommy, what is wrong with daddy?" James asked as they walked down the street. "He was screaming and crying."

"Daddy was having a panic attack. He was so overwhelmed that his body reacted that way." She told him.

He nodded and looked at her. "Daddy gave me an ice pop! And then we started to watch Thomas!"

"That sounds very nice, sweetie." She told him.

Percy was in the pool which was great for him. It helped him relax from the stress that Annabeth was bringing on him. He did love Annabeth to death but he was starting to feel her stress on him.

What should she do about Luke? Trusting him to watch James for a couple of hours and he had a panic attack which was not good. Her trust in him went down a bit. And now she was wondering if she could leave James alone with him again.

Percy wasn't prepared to handle all of this. Sure he was prepared to help take care of James. He wanted to do that ever since the little guy got lessons from him.

He looks at the water wondering if he could handle all of this. The stress was starting to overwhelm him.  
Percy sank underwater the water, trying to clear his head. That's why he loved the water. It can muffle his thoughts and sounds from above.

He came up for air and took a deep breath.

"Daddy!" He heard, knowing that voice from anywhere.

He turned and saw James dressed in his bathing suit. Annabeth was standing from the doorway. She wasn't dressed to go swimming like she usually was. That was concerning to him. Usually this was their bonding time where they don't have to worry about anything but James progress in swimming.  
James walked over to the edge of the pool and sat down, like he's been told to do numerous times. His feet were kicking the water that he could reach.

"You're not swimming with us today?" Percy asked as he waddled over to James and splashed some water on his feet.

"No. Something came up at work and I need to head in." She replied. "I might be late to come pick him up. I'm sorry for throwing this on you."

"Its fine. Go work. He'll be my little helper until you get back." Percy promised.

Annabeth blew a kiss to her two boys before leaving the pool. She took a deep breath and walked out of the building. Taking steps towards her destination put lead in her stomach but she knew she needed to do this. For James. For Percy. For her.

She walked into the building and went to the elevator.

Deep breath, Annabeth. You're doing this to keep your head straight, your son with you, and to make Percy worry less.

Annabeth went back to the Y after two hours. Her eyes slightly red and puffy. But she felt slightly better.

Before going to the pool area, she tried to clean herself up as much as she could.

She walked in and saw James in the pool on Percy's shoulders as he blew Percy's whistle. He was having a grand time doing that.

"Alright bud, that's enough." Percy told him as he took James off of his shoulders.

James was giggling until he saw Annabeth standing there with a slight smile on her face.

"Mommy's here!"

Percy turned and saw Annabeth standing there. He waved and turned back to his lesson to finish it up.  
Annabeth waited on the bleachers with some of the other parents who were on their phones or reading a book.

She was on her phone, looking at the pictures she took at the ones she took of her and James along with the ones with her and Percy. Towards the end of her camera roll, she saw a couple pictures of her and Luke, their engagement pictures. She remembered she kept those there to show James who his dad was when he got older.

She didn't know what she wanted to do with those pictures. She could see a couple that was happy and excited. A tiny James was starting to grow in her at that time and they didn't know it.  
But that guy was different now. He wasn't the same guy she fell in love with five years ago. Was he going to be the same guy if he didn't get deployed or disappeared four years ago? If he was, she never would have met Percy, or dated him. He was everything she wanted.

But that happy couple on her phone, that was the happiest time in her life, until she met Percy.

"You okay?" She heard Percy whisper in front of her.

Annabeth looked up and looked at Percy's concerned face. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine."

"You're crying." He told her.

She touched her face only to confirmed what he stated. She quickly wiped them away. "I'm fine."

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"Yeah. Um, I can take James home if you have more lessons." She told him.

"I'm done for the day." He told her. "I'll clean him up and then we can go home."

His eyes were scanning her, wondering what she was upset about. He needed to know what was bother her to the point of her crying.

But now wasn't the time or place to do this. James was always their focus first before talking about their problems. And they already moved into their new apartment which was also taking a lot of adjusting along with other problems.

He just wanted the stress that Annabeth was feeling to go away.


	19. Tell Percy

Percy was worried about Annabeth. She's been leaving James with him a lot more often. She wouldn't talk to him about where she was going.

"Annabeth, can we talk?" Percy asked after James fell asleep. She was just coming into their bed room after taking a shower.

"About what?" She asked as got into bed.

"Is everything okay?" He asked with concern. "You've been disappearing a lot lately and-"

"It's fine." She replied. "Just a lot of work stuff."

"You look like you were crying afterwards. Is something wrong? Is something happening at work?"

"Percy, please." She told him. "Everything is fine."

He looked at her and didn't want to back off but did. He couldn't be pushy when he was trying to find out what was going on.

"I had a long day, can we just cuddle and go to sleep?" She asked. "Please?"

"Yeah…that's fine." He wrapped an arm around her as she cuddled close to him.

Annabeth took a deep breath as she woke up. She looked over and saw Percy was still sleeping peacefully. She knew she should tell him the truth about where she was going.

It wasn't that bad, she was seeing a therapist to help her straighten out her mind and get help. Everything was taking a really bad toll on her lately and she just needed someone to help.

But Percy deserved to know, she knew that and her therapist told her that she should tell him. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Piper was the one who suggested it.

Percy's alarm went off and he rolled over to shut it off. "Morning."

"Good morning." She replied. "Percy, I need to tell you something."

"Yeah?" He asked, still in that groggy state.

"You know how I keep disappearing?"

Percy sat up straighter and looked at her. "Yeah."

"Well, uh, I've been going to therapy. I needed to get help after so much has happened. I just couldn't talk to you about and I needed help from someone else." She told him as tears started to form in her eyes. "I'm so sorry I didn't tell you or talk to you about it."

He moved over and wrapped his arms around her. Kissing her head, he held her tight.

"It's okay. I knew that all of this was stressing you out way too much." He told her. "I think it's great that you're getting help."

"Thank you." She whispered. "Please, don't tell James where I'm going. He doesn't need to know anything."

"I won't tell him." Percy promised. They heard thumping on the floor outside of the door. "But be prepared for a little monster."

The door opened and James ran in and climbed on the bed. He jumped onto them and smiled.

"Morning!" He grinned.

"Morning sweetie." Annabeth kissed his head. "You ready to go to day care?"

He nodded and looked at Percy. "You're taking me to school?"

"Yeah. Mommy has to go in early." He told him. "Let's make some breakfast and get ready."


	20. You Don't Know Them

A month, that's how long it was since Annabeth's first therapy appointment. She was getting better but she needed to stop going. It was starting to take a toll on her wallet and yes, Percy offered to help pay but she was still trying not to use his money.

There was some things that he would help pay for: rent (especially since they moved into their new apartment) and food. She wasn't ready to let go of her being independent. Her therapist told her that she needed to be a little more dependent on Percy with some things that needed to get paid for James.

Not only that, Luke was starting to get on her nerves about not seeing James as much as he would like. She tried, truly tried to bring him to see him at least once a week but he wanted to see him more. Now she possibly had a custody issue on her hands.

The only thing that brought some light into her stress was that Percy and her's six month anniversary was coming up. As she looked back on their relationship, it felt a bit rushed. They moved in together very quickly but that's because she couldn't afford renting the apartment by herself anymore. And James starts kindergarten in September, he needed a better school to go to.

She didn't know how to show Percy how much she appreciated everything he's done and how much she loved him.

"Hey there." Percy greeted as he came into the apartment. He just taught swim lessons and smelled like chlorine. "Where's James?"

"Oh, he's with Luke." She replied. "I took him after his lesson and shower. I know you told me to have more confidence in Luke and I'm trying."

Percy walked over and gave her a kiss. "I know. If you want, I can go pick him up later. Then James and I can get some dinner to bring home."

"No, I can do it." She told him. "He's my s-"

"He's also mine." Percy told her. "Not legally but I feel like he's mine too. You need to let go a little bit. How about you call Piper and have a girls night? It'll let you relax and you can have fun. You remember having fun right?"

She slightly glared at him. She could have fun. She always had fun with her son. "Fine. I'll call Piper."

"Good."

Percy went to go pick up James from Luke's place. It was the first time that he would go to Luke's by himself. He was slightly nervous that Luke might tear him apart, but he wouldn't do anything in front of James.

He got to Luke's room and knocked on the door, the receptionist told him that he was in his room.

The door opened and Thalia smiled at him "Hello Percy."

"Hi Thalia." He smiled back before entering the room.

James and Luke were playing with trains. A railroad track was going around the room and James was crawling around to make his trains got around the track.

"Hey bud." Percy greeted.

James looked up and smiled. He went over and hugged Percy's legs. Percy rubbed his back.

Luke looked at Percy. There was slight jealousy in his eyes as James hugged his legs. Percy knew that Luke wanted that, wanted James to be excited to see him and go home with him.

"Luke, it's nice to see you." Percy smiled a bit. "How are you doing?"

"Fine. How are you?" Percy could tell he was trying not to meet his eyes.

"Good. Annabeth really appreciate you watching him." Percy told him. "And James is always excited to see you."

"Yeah, I'm always excited to see him too." Luke replied. "Is he coming again soon?"

"Oh. Uh, I don't know when Annabeth is planning to bring him back." He replied honestly.

"She needs to bring him to me more. If she doesn't bring him back within a week, I'm going to take her to court for custody."

"Luke-"

"He's my son and I have a right to see him." He stood up and looked Percy in the eyes now. "More than once maybe in two weeks for only two to four hours. It's not fair to me or James."

Percy looked at Thalia. "Can you take James out for a bit? I just need to talk to Luke alone."

Thalia was hesitant for a second before getting James to follow her outside.

Percy looked at Luke. He could see the broken guy that came back from war and the guy who was deprived from his son. His eyes were duller now that James left the room and were looking at Percy for some hope.

"Percy, I just want to see my son more. He's been my light to get through everything in my life. I just want to see him more. Can't you tell Annabeth that?"

"I will." Percy promised. "But Annabeth has been going through a lot of changes. She's having a hard time at work, she's been stressed out about not having enough money, and she went to therapy to talk about other things I don't know about. I don't know if she's comfortable with leaving him with you more than she already is."

"Then she should expect something from my lawyer. Cause this is ridiculous! First she throws away our marriage-"

"She thought you were dead. She was trying to move on and wasn't expecting you to come back into her life!" Percy argued. "When she first saw you-"

"I still had hope that she would come back to me, even if she was dating you." Luke told him. He was starting to break, Percy knew that, and Percy couldn't see a broken man.

"She doesn't want that. She loves me and I love her right back more than anything in the world. James is like a son to me and I want what's best for him."

"And you don't think I'm what's best for him?" Luke asked. "His own father isn't even good enough for him?"

Percy didn't know how to reply to that. He only knew James for six months and even so, he didn't know much about what James or Annabeth was like before those six months.

"I thought so." Luke glared. "Tell Annabeth that she'll be hearing from my lawyer."

Percy took that as his cue to leave. He opened the door and got James before going to get dinner. He just added another layer of stress to Annabeth that she didn't need and he felt horrible.


	21. Annabeth Can't Know

Annabeth came home with a smile on her face. She really needed the girls night with Piper who also invited Reyna, another friend of theirs.

She got home and saw Percy sitting on the couch, watching ESPN.

"Hey Percy." She smiled. "How was your night?"

"Alright." He replied. "How was yours?"

"Good. How was James?" She asked as she took off her shoes. "Did he behave well for you?"

"Yeah, he's a perfect kid." He told her. "But we need to talk. Luke doesn't like the fact that he's not seeing James a lot. He's going to get a lawyer involved if you don't bring him more often."

She tensed up and took off her jacket. She hung it up and felt like she was going to explode.

Percy walked over and wrapped his arms around her waist, making her jump. He looked at her with concern. He hated seeing her like this. It made him feel like a horrible boyfriend even though he didn't really do much.

"Annabeth, bring him to Luke more before things become more complicated." Percy told her. "James and Luke deserve that."

She nodded, going to the bed room. Percy followed her to see her getting ready for her shower.

"You're upset." Percy noted.

"No I'm not." She replied, taking off her jewelry.

"Annabeth, he's James' dad." Percy told her. "That guy is already broken. The only thing keeping him together right now is James. Let him see James more. Let him take care of him for our date nights and every Saturday and Sunday. Take a break from being super mom."

She took a shaky breath and looked at him. "Percy, you don't understand what it is like to be a single mom for three years. Everything I do is to make sure James will be safe and fed and everything he needs from two parents. It's extremely hard when I have to raise him on just my salary, living in the most expensive city in the world."

"You don't have to worry about that anymore. You have me and Luke-"

"I can't give that up. It's not like I can just give up drinking soda or eating chocolate. He's my baby. He's all I had for three years." Tears were filling her eyes.

Percy walked over and hugged her. "Annabeth, it's going to be okay. I promise it's going to be okay if you give up some parental custody."

James kicked his legs as him and Percy rode the subway. He was promised a cookie and chocolate milk if he behaved.

"Daddy, where are we going?" James asked.

"We're going to see other daddy." Percy told him. "He's going to be very happy to see you."

James grinned. "I love seeing daddy! And Nurse Thalia. She's also very fun to play with."

"That's good to hear." Percy smiled as he listened for the next stop.

He felt slightly guilty, taking James out of day care early so he could see Luke, but it was the right thing to do. Luke and James deserved to bond more. He wanted them to have a father-son connection, something he didn't have with his own dad.

Percy helped James down from the seat and walked with him to the surface where he walked with him to Luke's place.

James jumped as they walked, trying to avoid the cracks. He just seemed to optimistic about seeing Luke.

"Do you like playing with your daddy?" Percy asked.

James nodded. "Daddy likes to tell me stories about how he met mommy. And stories about superheroes!"

"That sounds like fun." Percy smiled. "What superhero stories does he tell you?"

"Captain America! He has picture books!" James smiled. "He has a lot of them and reads them to me."

Percy nodded and walked into the building with James holding onto his hand. He signed them in before going to Luke's room.

He knocked on the open door before walking in.

Luke looked up and saw Percy there with James. He smiled at James and then at Percy.

"Daddy!" James ran over and hugged Luke.

"Hey James." Luke smiled and hugged him back. "How are you?"

"Good! Daddy took me out of day care so I can see you!" James smiled. "It's the best day ever!"

Luke chuckled and kissed his head. "Let me get Nurse Thalia."

He stood up and looked at Percy. "Thank you Percy."

"It's not problem. Just…don't tell Annabeth. I didn't tell her about this. And I have to go back to work before my free period is over."

He nodded and picked up his phone and called Thalia. Percy stayed with them until she showed up. He said goodbye to James before heading back to work. 


	22. Doubts

Percy took James over to see Luke twice during the week and Annabeth brought him over on Saturday and Sunday. He was getting nervous that she would find out that he's been taking James out of day care so much.

He's been picking up James on those days so she wouldn't find out. But James has been talking about Luke so much that it was time that Percy told Annabeth the truth.

He waited for her to put James to bed before talking to her about it.

She walked over to the bed and sat down, running her hands through her hair. Percy knew she had a long day, she had work and therapy which he helped pay for cause she needed it.

"How was your day?" Annabeth asked as she cuddled up next to him. Her hair was in a messy bun with a few strands of hair covering her face.

"Alright." He replied. "Annabeth, I need to talk to you about something."

"I know, your parents are coming up this weekend. Your mom called when you were in the shower." She replied.

"Oh, I didn't know that. But, I need to tell you something else." He said, shifting to see her better. "I've been pulling James out of day care to see Luke."

Annabeth's eyes widen as she stared at him. "You what?"

"I took him to see Luke. Annabeth, once a week visits aren't a great idea. He wants to bond with James. I would have given anything to bond with my dad when I was his age." He told her. "He needs to bond with his dad."

"He bonds with you." She argued.

"But I'm not his biological dad. Luke's a great guy. And yes, he might be getting over his feelings for you, but he cares about his son." Percy told her.

Annabeth took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and silently counted to ten before opening her eyes. "I understand why you did it. But why didn't you tell me before you started this?"

"Because you would freak out. Any time I bring up James seeing Luke, you freak out." He said.

"I wouldn't have freaked out." She said, calmly. "We could have had a calm discussion about this."

He nodded and looked at her. "I'm sorry for not telling you. But look how happy James is. He's always excited to see Luke."

She nodded. "But if you take him, can you just tell him that your parents are coming over and they want to see James."

"Yeah, he'll understand." Percy told her.

Percy went to pick up James after work. He was exhausted from the long day; teaching then a meeting with his department.

Thalia, Luke, and James were outside, playing in the fallen leaves. Luke threw them up in the air and they rained over James who was running, trying to get away from the leaves.

"Hey." Percy greeted when he got closer. "Looks like a lot of fun."

James looked at him and grinned. "It is!"

Percy walked over to Luke as James came over, reaching for Percy. He picked him up.

"You have fun with your dad?" Percy asked.

James nodded and leaned on him.

Percy looked at Luke. "This weekend, my parents are coming up and James won't be able to visit."

"Oh, uh, thanks for letting me know." Luke replied. He looked away from him. His blue eyes were just so depressing to look at. Percy felt horrible.

"I'll bring him on Monday." Percy promised. "He'll spend the whole day with you."

"That would fine." Luke told him. He looked at James. "I'll see you soon, bud."

"Okay." James leaned over and kissed Luke's cheek. "Bye daddy."

Percy smiled at Luke before leaving with James.

He felt horrible every time he took James away from Luke. His blue eyes were always duller when Percy was around. He didn't want to get in the way of them bonding, but he felt like he was. Maybe he shouldn't be in the way anymore.

But he loved James and Annabeth. He didn't know what their future would hold, but he wanted to still be in theirs. Luke was a bit of a problem. He respected the guy and just wanted to find a good balance for him seeing his son.


	23. Break Down

Percy opened the door and smiled to see his parents standing there. He was slightly relieved to have them here this weekend, the whole Luke thing was slightly stressing him out.

"Percy." His mom smiled as she hugged him. "You look well. And you're new apartment is huge!"

"Thanks mom." He smiled, breaking the hug. He looked at his step father and smiled. "Hi dad."

They hugged as Annabeth and James came out of the bathroom. It took Annabeth over an hour to get James into the bath. After his swim lesson, he didn't want to leave the water.

Annabeth was covered in water and James was dressed and hair mostly dried. He saw Sally and Paul only to run over to them with a smile.

"Hi sweetie." Sally smiled, picking him up. "You all nice and clean?"

He nodded. "Mommy gave me a bath after my lesson with daddy."

Percy walked to Annabeth who was exhausted and still smelled like chlorine. She just felt like a mess.

"Go shower." He whispered to her. "You need some time to yourself and my parents will understand."

She looked down at her hands. "Percy, can I just stay in our room for a while? There's some stuff I need to do for work that's due by tomorrow morning. And I tried to get it all done but-"

"It's fine." He promised. "Go shower and I'll entertain them."

"Thank you." She said, before going into the shower.

It wasn't that Annabeth didn't want to spend time with Sally and Paul, she loved them both so much. But last night, she got a letter from Luke's lawyer, stating that he was going to get some custody rights for James.

She thought her and Percy were able to please him by bringing him over every weekend. And they gave him a warning that this weekend was no good. Why would he do this to her?

The hot water poured over her as she thought about what to do. She didn't have enough money to get a lawyer. There was no way that she was going to ask Percy for help.

Her thoughts have been muddled for a day. But she knew one thing, she wished Luke actually died. It would make her life less complicated and she would be with Percy and have no worries.

Was she an awful person for thinking that, wishing her ex-fiance was dead?

She turned off the hot water, letting the slight burn from the water sink in. She dried off and put on the clothes she set out earlier before going to the bedroom.

Outside, Percy was talking to his parents. They were enjoying their time in Long Island and being retired.

"So, how's everything going here?" Sally asked. "How's teaching and coaching?"

"Good. Everything is going good." Percy replied.

"How do you like being a dad?" Paul asked, his eyes on James who was playing with his blocks.

"I like it. James is great." He smiled. "It was a lot easier than I thought it was going to be. But there were some things that are difficult."

"Like bath time and bed time?" Sally asked.

"No." He sighed. "I told you that Annabeth's ex-fiance was alive and we're trying bring James to him. But he wants to see James a lot more and Annabeth isn't so excited to hand James over to him."

"Why not bring him on the weekends?" Paul suggested.

"We are. And it seems to be working." Percy replied. "He's a nice guy, but he has PTSD and that's what Annabeth is worried about."

"She has a right to be." Sally said. "I'm not saying that he doesn't have a right to see James, but I see why she's worried."

James came over to them with his boat. "Can we go play with this in the pond?"

"Oh, maybe in a bit." Percy told him.

"Other daddy takes me to the pond to play with the boat." James told Sally and Paul.

"That sounds like a lot of fun." Sally smiled. "You love playing with boats?"

"And blocks. Mommy got me blocks." He told her. "She builds towers with me! And daddy teaches me how to swim."

Percy smiled and looked towards the bedroom door. He was wondering what big project Annabeth was working on. She didn't say anything last night.

"Mom, dad, can you watch James for a moment? I'm going to check on Annabeth." Percy said, getting up.

"Sure Percy." Sally smiled.

Percy got up and went to the bedroom. He knocked on the door before opening it to see Annabeth curled up in bed, crying.


	24. Served

Percy closed the door behind him before walking over to Annabeth. The bed sunk as he sat down to wrap his arms around her. He couldn't stand seeing her like this, distraught.

"Annabeth, what's going on?" He whispered. "What's wrong?"

She didn't say anything, but instead she put her head in his lap and curled up as she cried.

Percy rubbed her back, trying to soothe her as much as possible. He kissed the top of her head, waiting for her to calm down enough to talk to him. It seemed like hours, at least to Percy.

"L-Luke is getting a lawyer." She mumbled against his stomach. "He's filing for custody."

"What? He said he wasn't going to do that." Percy was shocked that Luke would do that. When he talked to Luke, everything seemed to be okay. Why would something change so quickly?

"He is. He's going to take James away from me." She was shaking. "Oh god, what if he's trying to get full custody?"

Percy rubbed her back. "He won't do that. He might want it in paper that he has to see James a certain amount of times per week. He won't take James away from you. Luke isn't that kind of person and you know that."

She took a deep breath, trying to calm herself down. But the thought that she couldn't have full custody of James was scary to her. Her four years of constant, all of sudden not there anymore.

Percy kept rubbing her back until her breathing evened out. He kissed her head when there was a knock on the door. She slowly got up and pulled the covers over herself and Percy went to the door.

He opened it and saw his mom standing there, worried. "Is everything okay?"

"Um, yeah. Annabeth just passed out from working way too hard." He stepped closer to his mother and closed the door behind him.

"Percy, there's water on your shirt." Sally pointed out. "What's going on?"

He took a deep breath and quickly told her what they were talking about and why Annabeth was crying.

"Oh, dear. I never thought Luke would do this to her." She said.

"I don't think he would either. But I think he wants to make sure he sees James a few times a week." Percy told her. "It has to be the reason."

Sally nodded in agreement, thinking that would be the most logical reason.

"Uh, so dinner?" Percy asked. "I could order in some food."

James smiled as he spent some time with Percy at the pool. They were working on his swimming this morning.

Annabeth was watching from the side, looking through the papers that Luke sent her. She didn't have money for a lawyer so she was trying to understand everything in front of her.

"Mommy, look!" James grinned before jumping into the water.

She didn't look at him, she was too busy reading.

James looked at her, wanting to hear her say, "Good job". But when she didn't say it, he was frustrated. "Mommy, did you see?"

"Uh huh." She replied, not looking up.

Percy looked at her, trying not to get mad at her. "Annabeth."

She looked up from her papers. "Huh?"

"Take a break and watch James. He learned a lot today." Percy told her. "He's doing really well."

She nodded at looked at him. "He always does well in swim lessons. He loves swimming."

"Annabeth-"

"Look, you're his teacher. If you tell me he's doing well, then I believe you."

"Annabeth-"

"Percy, I need to look over this and I didn't want to spread out in our apartment with your parents there." She said. "So please-"

"Swim time is suppose to be family time." Percy told her. "You told me that swim time was suppose to be bonding time. Well, you're not bonding with him."

Annabeth put down her papers and looked at him. Her eyes were tired from reading and rereading the fine print on the contact over and over again.

"I'm not dressed for this." She told him.

"Then just watch him show off." Percy said. "It'll help him with his confidence."

She sighed and nodded. All she wanted to do was look through these papers and understand what Luke wanted or any fine lines that she missed. She just wanted James to be safe.


End file.
